In ancient China, the production tools were backward, the productivity level was low, and the land was seriously annexed by bureaucratic landlords. The life of farmers and small-scale craftsmen who have lost their land is quite difficult. In the face of natural and man-made disasters, it is very common to betray one's children and girls. Once their children are sold to others, they have no human rights and personal freedom. They are not only lifelong slaves, but even slaves for generations. Life is rather miserable.
Generally speaking, boys are bought as footmen and girls are bought as maids. In a big family of landlords or bureaucrats, there will be many servants and maids. Many ancient literary works describe the tragic life experiences of many maids.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the literati Zhou's long vernacular novel "Biography of Awakening Marriage" said in the thirty-sixth chapter that there was a tailor named Shen Shanle who specialized in making clothes for others, and it was broken. There is no choice but to sell 1 1 year-old daughter Xi Jie to repay others' money. The Shen family "fully asked for seven taels of silver", but "if she has a few taels, she has four taels, which is the best number of feet". Later, Mrs. Zhao, a good woman, "liked it. An eleven-year-old girl was taken care of by her parents, but she sold it to others as a maid for four taels of silver. The miserable life of her maid at that time can be seen.
When a maid grows up, there are generally three ways out: first, she is accepted as a concubine by her master; The second is to directly match the same identity of the page; The third is to resell and marry, and become a concubine of the man. The first situation is the best result for maids, because those who can afford maids are, after all, big families with a certain economic foundation. As a man, concubines will have no worries in the future, and solve the life problems for ancient maids who have no tiles on the top and no land on the bottom. But as a concubine, she is also a servant girl of her host's family. She is not only forced to do whatever she wants by her master, but also unreasonably jealous and accused by her mistress.
Of course, even when the maid wanted to be released at the age of 20, she had been in her master's house for many years, so it was normal to be sexually harassed and sexually assaulted by her master at that time. Back to the fifty-fifth chapter of "The Story of Awakening Marriage", it is said that Mrs. De wants to buy a full set, that is, a maid with certain cooking skills. Grandma Tong found a matchmaker to introduce it to others for resale, and felt that it met Mr. Di's requirements. When she was ready to try the maid, Grandma Tong asked, "Have you ever used it at home?" "Too long," said the servant girl. Grandma Tong asked, "You didn't give birth to anything?" The maid said, "It's just a small matter. What it gave birth to! " It can be seen that it was normal for the male host to take advantage of the maid at that time and was recognized by the parties and the society.
In the sixth time of A Dream of Red Mansions, "Jia Baoyu tried sex for the first time, and Granny Liu entered the house", and Jia Baoyu tried it on the maid Xiren. The book says:
Aroma quickly took advantage of the servant girl's absence and took out another cheongsam and changed it with Baoyu. Baoyu said with shame, "My dear sister, don't tell anyone." Aroma smiled shyly and asked, "What story did you dream about? Did those dirty things come from there? " Baoyu said, "It's a long story." Then he told xiren what happened in the dream in detail. Then he said that he was given sex by the police illusion, and he was ashamed to hide his face and smile. Baoyu also likes the tenderness and charm of xiren, so he forced xiren to join the police force and conduct training on sex and rain. Aroma always knew that the old lady had given herself to Baoyu. Now, it's not a gift, so she secretly tried it with Baoyu. Fortunately, no one touched her. From then on, Baoyu looked at xiren differently than others, and xiren was more devoted to Baoyu.
Judging from this passage, Jia Baoyu and xiren both think that their relationship is normal. The man and the maid have been having an affair for a long time, and the maid naturally regards herself as the man's "maid", so being a concubine has become their hope and ideal in life. However, after all, there are not many opportunities to be a concubine. Most of the maids grow up to a certain age and either marry a page or are sold to marry. They didn't choose what kind of hands they fell into, just like the fallen leaves in the autumn wind. As for whether to fall into the brocade account or the dunghill, we have to leave it to fate.
Some maids make money after buying them. A young maid can't do heavy work and has no skills. She has to raise it slowly, so how much does it cost to be independent? For some scheming masters, they intend to cultivate maid skills in their usual work, such as some are good at needlework and some are good at cooking. When they grow up, they can sell this skill at a good price. The master can not only use it for so many years, but also make a hard profit.
In other words, in chapter 55 of the novel "The Story of Awakening Marriage", Mr. De wants to find a kitchen, that is, to buy a maid who can cook. Ran, the head of the cloth seller in Haidaimen, has an eighteen-year-old maid, whose feet are not very big and her skin is white and tender. After interview, technical examination and other procedures, she was very satisfied. Finally, after bargaining, she made a deal with 24 taels of silver plus one or two referral fees. The boss who sells cloth is called Touran. He deals with maids like Buyi and gets ill-gotten gains from it. The appearance of this situation will inevitably aggravate the miserable life of maids.